The Kansas City Club, founded in 1882 and located in the Library District of

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, was the oldest gentlemen's club in Missouri. The club began admitting women members in 1975. Along with the River Club on nearby Quality Hill, it was one of two surviving private city clubs on the Missouri side of Kansas City. Notable members included

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

and

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, General

Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. Bradley ...

, and political boss

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

. It ceased operation in 2015.

Clubhouse

The club is located in a neoclassical masonry and reinforced concrete building at 918 Baltimore Avenue, which was designed by

John McKecknie John W. McKecknie (1862–1934) was an American architect working in Kansas City, Missouri, who applied the principles of reinforced concrete in the construction of commercial structures clad in a repertory of classical motifs. He produced desi ...

and built in 1922. It is situated at the corner of Ninth Street across Baltimore Avenue from the Central Library and across Ninth Street from the

New York Life Building The New York Life Building is the headquarters of the New York Life Insurance Company at 51 Madison Avenue in New York City. The building, designed by Cass Gilbert, abuts Madison Square Park in the Rose Hill and NoMad neighborhoods of Manha ...

. The clubhouse was home to the University Club of Kansas City from 1922 to 2001 (see below). The four-story clubhouse contained a dining room, a pub, a library, a cigar stand, full-service athletic facilities, and banquet and meeting facilities including a lounge, a ballroom, and private conference rooms. Two "inner clubs" had their own private lounge and bar spaces for their own members. The athletic facilities included cardio, weight, and strength training equipment, a trainer, a masseuse, hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, a

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

court, and two

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

courts. Along with the

University of Missouri-Kansas City A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and the

Pembroke Hill School The Pembroke Hill School (usually referred to as Pembroke Hill) is a progressive, inclusive, secular, coeducational, independent preparatory school for about 1,200 students in early years (age 2 years) through high school, separated into four se ...

, the Kansas City Club was one of only three locations in Kansas City with squash facilities.

History

In the period after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, most of Kansas City’s existing social clubs were pro-

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

. A group of prominent local businessmen and professionals, including

Edward H. Allen Edward Herrick Allen (April 24, 1830 – December 1, 1895) was a Republican Party (United States), Republican Kansas City Mayor in 1867. Biography Allen was born in Danbury, Connecticut and claimed a Mayflower ancestry. He graduated from Mariett ...

, Victor B. Bell,

Alden J. Blethen Alden J. Blethen (December 27, 1845 – July 12, 1915) was a teacher and attorney, who was editor-in-chief of the '' Seattle Daily Times'' from August 10, 1896 Boswell 1994, p. 96 until his death. He written referred to as Colonel Blethen. ...

, Thomas B. Bullene, Gardiner Lathrop,

August Meyer August Robert Meyer (August 20, 1851 – December 1, 1905) was an American mining engineer, founding organizer of Leadville, Colorado, and developed the park and boulevard system for Kansas City, Missouri as first president of the Commission of P ...

, Leander J. Talbott, William Warner, and

Robert T. Van Horn Robert Thompson Van Horn (May 19, 1824 – January 3, 1916) was an American lawyer, the owner and publisher of '' The Kansas City Enterprise'', the 6th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri during parts of the Civil War, a member of the Missouri General ...

, decided to provide an alternative, and organized the Kansas City Club on November 10, 1882. Initially, the club met at

Kersey Coates Kersey Coates (September 15, 1823 – April 24, 1887) was a businessman from Kansas City, in the U.S. state of Missouri, who developed Quality Hill, founded the Kansas City Board of Trade, and was among those who attracted the Hannibal & St. Jo ...

's hotel on Quality Hill. In 1888, the club moved into its first clubhouse, a brick building at the corner of Twelfth and Wyandotte Streets.Jerry T. Duggan, ''A History of the Kansas City Club: 1882-1982'' (The Kansas City Club: 1982) Kcclubbuilding

In 1922, having absorbed several other clubs, and with a membership of more than 600, the club built a 14-story beaux arts clubhouse (the Kansas City Club Building) at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Baltimore Avenue, designed by local architect, Charles A. Smith. The clubhouse included a large dining room, several bars, private meeting rooms, a banquet hall, athletic facilities, an indoor pool, six floors of guestrooms, and a rooftop terrace. The club quickly grew and entered into reciprocal arrangements with many other prominent clubs worldwide. Membership was opened to women in 1975. In 1987, the club had 2,180 members. By 2001, however, membership had dwindled to less than 900.Katie Hollar, "Kansas City Club, University Club will merge," ''Kansas City Business Journal'' (July 25, 2001)
/ref> The club blamed the drop in membership on the

Tax Reform Act of 1986 The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 22, 1986. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was the top domestic priority of President Reagan's second term. The a ...

, which made private club dues non-deductible, as well as changes in culture that made young professionals less apt to join clubs. The clubhouse also needed upgrades to its facilities that would have cost between $5 million and $10 million. Finally, effective July 31, 2001, the club agreed to merge with the University Club, a 100-year-old men's social club at the corner of Ninth Street and Baltimore Avenue, and purchase the University Club's facilities, which were smaller and cost only $1 million to upgrade. The merger also infused the Kansas City Club with the University Club's 200-person membership. In 2002, a developer bought the Kansas City Club's 1922 building and turned it into loft apartments and a banquet hall, renaming it the "Clubhouse on Baltimore." Since 2010, the club has lent space to

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

's Olin School of Business local "Executive

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

" program. In November 2012, the club celebrated its 130th anniversary with a charity gala. The Kansas City Club, after 133 years, closed on Saturday, May 23, 2015. Epoch Developments, from Denver, bought the facility out of bankruptcy in summer 2015 and subsequently spent millions of dollars renovating, improving, upgrading the systems and returning the facility to use as a private venue for corporate gatherings, weddings and still squash or basketball plus a unique golf simulator. In 2020, the building opened to the public as Hotel Kansas City. The first 5 floors were retained in their original condition and serve as meeting and event spaces.

In popular culture

* On the eighth episode of the third season (2012) of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's series ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...

'', titled "The Pony",

Nucky Thompson Enoch Malachi "Nucky" Thompson is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO TV series ''Boardwalk Empire'', portrayed by Steve Buscemi. Nucky is loosely based on former Atlantic City, New Jersey political figure Enoch Lewis "Nucky" Jo ...

poses as a member of the Kansas City Club in order to gain access to the

Union Club of the City of New York The Union Club of the City of New York (commonly known as the Union Club) is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1836. The clubhouse is located at 101 East 69th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in a landmark building de ...

via "a reciprocal agreement" between the two clubs.

Notable members

, 10th

Mayor of Kansas City The Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri is the highest official in the Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Government. Since the 1920s the city has had a council-manager government in which a city manager runs most of the day-to-day operations of t ...

(1867–68) * Victor B. Bell, lumber magnate * Richard L. Berkley, 50th Mayor of Kansas City (1979–91) *

, newspaper publisher * Pasco Bowman, judge,

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western Dis ...

(1983-2003) *

, senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

* Thomas B. Bullene, owner of the Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company, 22nd Mayor of Kansas City (1882–83) *

, early Kansas City hotel magnate *

Harry Darby Harry Darby (January 23, 1895January 17, 1987) was an American politician from Kansas. Life and career Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Darby graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois, and served in the ...

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from Kansas (1949–50) *

, 34th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

(1953–61) * John B. Gage, 45th Mayor of Kansas City (1940–46) *

Ewing Kauffman Ewing Marion Kauffman (September 21, 1916 August 1, 1993) was an American pharmaceutical entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner. Early life and education Ewing Kauffman was born on September 21, 1916, on a farm near Gard ...

, pharmaceutical magnate and owner of the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Charles E. Kearney Charles Esmond Kearney (March 8, 1820 - January 3, 1898) was the first president of the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad which as a subsidiary of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and built the Hannibal Bridge establishing Kansas City, Missouri as ...

, early railroad magnate *

R. Crosby Kemper Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr. (1892–1972) was an American banker. He is known for expanding City Center Bank, acquired by his father, from a three-man operation with $600,000 in deposits into UMB Financial Corporation, with $300 million in deposits, du ...

, banker and philanthropist *

R. Crosby Kemper Jr. Rufus Crosby Kemper Jr. (February 22, 1927 – January 2, 2014) was an American banker and philanthropist. Career Kemper was born into an influential banking and railroading family in Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or ...

, banker and philanthropist * Robert A. Long, lumber magnate *

, mining magnate *

Ralph Leroy Nafziger Ralph Leroy Nafziger (November 17, 1887 – September 17, 1965) was the founder of the Hostess Brands, Interstate Bakeries Corporation, which eventually became Hostess Brands. Nafziger was born into a family of bakers on November 17, 1887, in Kan ...

, founder of

Hostess Brands Hostess Brands is an American-based bakery company formed in 2013. It owns several bakeries in the United States that produce snack cakes under the Hostess and Dolly Madison brand names and its Canadian subsidiary, Voortman Cookies Limited, pro ...

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

political boss * Charles H. Price II, businessman,

U.S. Ambassador to Belgium In 1832, shortly after the creation of the Kingdom of Belgium, the United States established diplomatic relations. Since that time, a long line of distinguished envoys have represented American interests in Belgium. These diplomats included men ...

(1981–83),

U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom The United States ambassador to the United Kingdom (known formally as the ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James's) is the official representative of the president of the United States and the American government to the monarch ...

(1983–89) * James A. Reed, U.S. Senator from Missouri (1911–29), 32nd Mayor of Kansas City (1900–04) *

Jack Steadman Jack W. Steadman (September 14, 1928 – July 5, 2015) was an American football executive who served as chairman, vice president, president and general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. Steadman retired as vice c ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

general manager (1966–76), president (1976–89), chairman (1989-2005), and vice-chairman (2005–07) * Leander J. Talbott, realtor and politician, 24th Mayor of Kansas City (1884–85) *

Joseph P. Teasdale Joseph Patrick Teasdale (March 29, 1936 – May 8, 2014) was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as the 48th Governor of Missouri from 1977 to 1981. Early life and education Teasdale was born in Kansas City, Missouri to William and ...

, 48th

Governor of Missouri A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

(1977–81) *

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, 33rd President of the United States (1945–53), 34th

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

(1945), U.S. Senator from Missouri (1935–45) *

, lawyer, U.S. Representative from Missouri (1865–71), 6th Mayor of Kansas City (1861–62, 1863–65) * William Warner, lawyer, U.S. Senator from Missouri (1905–11), U.S. Representative from Missouri (1885–89), 13th Mayor of Kansas City (1871–72) *

William L. Webster William Lawrence Webster (born September 17, 1953) is an American lawyer, former politician and convicted felon from Missouri. He served in the Missouri House of Representatives and later as the 39th Missouri Attorney General, Attorney General o ...

, 39th

Missouri Attorney General The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney Gene ...

(1985–93) *

Charles Evans Whittaker Charles Evans Whittaker (February 22, 1901 – November 26, 1973) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1957 to 1962. After working in private practice in Kansas City, Missouri, he was nominated for the United States Di ...

, Associate Justice of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

(1957–62) *

David Wysong David C. Wysong (born March 8, 1949) is a former Republican member of the Kansas Senate for the 7th district. He was first elected in 2004. He resigned in December 2009 and was replaced by Terrie Huntington. Wysong is a Roman Catholic. He was ...

, Kansas politician

References

External links